USA > New Mexico > History of New Mexico : its resources and people, Volume II > Part 51
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"The men who have invested in the construction of most of the rail- ways of the West have not done so because they believed the traffic of the regions through which they were projectcd was sufficient at the time to support the enterprises, but because they were persuaded that the roads would rapidly create a profitable volume of business for themselves. These remarks may be applied with peculiar propriety to the several lines of New Mexico. They have not only quickened the entire Territory into new life, attracting desirable immigration from all parts of the country, and giving a fresh and healthful impulse to all the useful activities of the people, but have actually created a large part of the traffic that is already making them more than self-supporting, and insures them large and steadily increasing profits in the future, thus satisfactorily demonstrating the wisdom of their projectors and affording substantial encouragement for the early construction of the important new lines projected in the Territory. Not one of the ten railway lines in New Mexico is in the hands of a receiver, and after passing through the various trying vicissi- tudes inevitably incident to the development of natural resources, all of them have reached a point where they annually show net earnings."
On the authority of W. G. Ritch, the first passenger train into New Mexico brought the Colorado legislature to Otero, February 13, 1879. This train ran over the New Mexico & Southern Pacific Railroad, now part of the Santa Fé System. By 1885 its main line had been constructed a distance of 481 miles, as far as Deming. Its Santa Fé and El Paso branches were 95 miles at the same date and other branches, to Las Vegas, Raton, Carthage, Silver City, Lake Valley, Magdalena, comprised 104 miles, giving, in all, this road a mileage of 680, more than half that of the entire Territory at the time.
The mileage of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in 1891 is shown by the following table, with names of main and branch lines, date of con- struction, and length :
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé:
Main line, north and south (1879-81). 503.1
Lamy to Santa Fé (1880) 18.
Rincon to Deming ( 1881) . 53.
Dillon to Blossburg (1881) 5.9
Nutt to Lake Valley ( 1884). 13.3
Socorro to Magdalena ( 1884) 27.1
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Magdalena to Kelley ( 1885) . 3.9
San Antonio to Carthage ( 1882) 9.6
Las Vegas to Hot Springs ( 1882) 6.4
Hot Springs westward (1887) 1.9
Silver City Branch. 48. 690.20
In 1903 the Santa Fé System proper had 1,006 miles of railroad actu- ally constructed in the Territory.
A part of the Santa Fe System is the line of the old Atlantic & Pacific, which was completed between the Rio Grande valley and the Arizona boundary, via Laguna Indian pueblo and Fort Wingate, in July, 1881, this being an addition of 167 miles to the railroads of the Territory.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, the pioneer railway sys- tem of the Territory, and owning almost one-half of the railway mileage of this commonwealth, in its main line and branches taps the most fertile and populous districts, and has done much for the upbuilding of the future Sunshine State. The railway enters the Territory a short distance north of the station Lynn, in Colfax county, at an elevation of 7.557 feet. and passes southward through Colfax, Mora, San Miguel, Santa Fé and Berna- lillo counties, a rich stock, mining and agricultural country, to Isleta, the junction point with the Santa Fe-Pacific. at an elevation of 4.877 feet. The important towns of Raton. Springer, Wagon Mound, Las Vegas, Cerrillos and Albuquerque are on this division, besides a number of lesser settlements. The capital city of Santa Fé is connected with this line by an eighteen-mile branch line from Lamy. A short branch from Waldo taps the important Madrid coal fields. and a branch twelve miles long from Hebron Station, in Colfax county, taps the Willow Creek coal fields. From Dillon, in Colfax county, a branch five miles long enters the Bloss- burg and Gardner coal fields. From Las Vegas a branch a little over six miles long makes connection with Las Vegas Hot Springs and the famous Montezuma Hotel. The line has been leased and is now being operated as an electric railway. At Las Vegas and at Albuquerque the railroad com- pany has built magnificent new depots and a new depot at the cost of $30.000 at Raton. At French, near Springer, this division is crossed by the Dawson Railway, and at Kennedy. a few miles south of Lamy, by the Santa Fé Central Railway.
From Isleta south the Santa Fe Railway winds through the fertile Rio Grande Valley, an almost continuous garden, passing the important towns of Los Lunas, Belen, Socorro, San Antonio, San Marcial, Rincon and Las Cruces, entering Texas at the station of La Tuna, at an elevation of 3.770 feet. The distance from Lynn to La Tuna is 485 miles. The first branch line south of Isleta connects Socorro with the mining town of Magdalena. a distance of twenty-seven miles.
From Rincon a branch line touches the railroad center of Deming. where connection is made with the Southern Pacific and the El Paso & Southwestern Railway. The terminus of this branch is at Silver City, the prosperous county seat of Grant county. The length of this branch line is 101 miles. From the Rincon branch at Nutt a spur has been built to the mining camp of Lake Valley, thirteen miles. From Whitewater station a spur has been built to the mining camp of Santa Rita, in Grant county,
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a distance of eighteen miles, while from Hanover Junction, on this branch, there is a spur to Fierro, a distance of six and one-half miles. This part of the system from Isleta to El Paso, with its branches, enters the counties of Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, Doña Ana, Luna, Grant and Sierra.
From Isleta the Santa Fe-Pacific Railroad strikes across the Conti- nental Divide into Arizona, having its termini at San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Cal. Gallup, a coal-mining town, is the principal city on this road in New Mexico. This line leaves the Territory near the sta- tion of Manuelito. The distance from Isleta to the Territorial boundary is 162 miles. The large railway shops of the Santa Fe-Pacific are located at Albuquerque, and shops and offices are maintained at Raton, Las Vegas and San Marcial for the Santa Fe Railway.
The Santa Fe Railway Company some years ago acquired the Pecos Valley & Northeastern Railway, which traverses the counties of Eddy, Chaves and Roosevelt, entering the Territory from the south on the Texas line, from there following the Pecos river to near Roswell, and from thence running northeast to Roosevelt county out of the Territory into Texas again, in which state a junction is formed with the Colorado & Southern Railway, as well as with the Southern Kansas & Panhandle division of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway at Amarillo. The Pecos Valley & Northeastern Railway commands an immense stock busi- ness, and in New Mexico passes through a rich stock as well as agricul- tural region. The beautiful and prosperous towns of Carlsbad, Hagerman, Roswell and Portales are on this line, which is 192 miles long in the Territory.
In connection with the Pecos Valley & Northeastern Railway, the Santa Fé Railway system has about completed an important railway project which will give it the shortest line of any transcontinental road to the Pacific coast from Chicago and Kansas City. This is the building of 250 miles of standard-gauge railroad from Texico, Roosevelt county, to Belen, on the Rio Grande. there to cross the river. and a few miles farther on to connect with the Santa Fe-Pacific at or near Rio Puerco, in Valencia county. This line connects with the New Mexico Eastern near Willard. The New Mexico Eastern is a subsidiary line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé.
Passing or tapping as it does seventeen ont of the twenty-four counties of the Territory, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway enjoys a com- manding position in the railroad situation of tlfe Territory, from which it draws a gratifying amount of passenger and freight traffic. The rail- way company in turn is fostering industries and encouraging immigration along its lines. The coal fields, mining districts, agricultural sections. stock ranges, scenic beauties, historic and prehistoric attractions reached via this line in New Mexico mean an ever-increasing traffic and revenue to the system which has done so much for the great "Sunshine" Territory.
It was an event of national importance when, on March IO. 1881. all- rail connection across the continent, via New Mexico and Arizona, was established by the junction at Deming of the two divisions of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Deming was also the point of junction of this road with the Santa Fe from the north, and the completion of these two roads placed New Mexico in communication by the shortest routes with the Pacific coast, the Gulf and the northern cities.
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The Southern Pacific traverses about 170 miles in southern New Mexico, entering the Territory three miles west of El Paso, and running through Dona Ana, Luna and Grant counties, crossing the Arizona boundary near Stein's Pass. The principal towns on this road in New Mexico are Deming, where connection is made with the Santa Fé and the El Paso & Southwestern, and Lordsburg, where connection is. made with the Lordsburg & Hachita and the Arizona-New Mexico railroads. The road passes through an extensive stock country and touches several im- portant mining districts.
Almost simultaneously with the Santa Fe system the Denver & Rio Grande railroad entered the Territory from the north, near Conejos. A narrow-gauge road, it enters the Territory five miles south of Antonito, Colorado, traversing Taos and Rio Arriba counties, and near Embudo enters the fertile Rio Grande valley, leaving it again south of San Ilde- fonso and making its terminus at Santa Fé. Santa Fé and Espanola are the most important towns on this line, although it also carries freight and passenger traffic for the town of Taos, which is reached by stage, and other settlements in Taos and Rio Arriba counties. The main line of the Denver & Rio Grande, from Antonito to Durango, goes for sixty-nine miles through Rio Arriba county. the principal towns on this route being the coal camps of Monero and the railroad town of Chama. Near Chama a branch seventeen miles long traverses the timber lands on the Tierra Amarilla grant. The entire mileage of the Denver & Rio Grande in New Mexico was 225 miles in 1903.
The Colorado & Southern Railroad, which connects Denver, Colorado, with Fort Worth, Texas, crosses the northeastern corner of New Mexico, its mileage being entirely in Union county. The line enters the Territory near Emery Gap at an elevation of 6,462 feet and leaves the Territory, after traversing it for eighty-three miles, at Texline, Texas, at an eleva- tion of 4.694 feet. The principal towns in New Mexico on the Colorado & Southern are Clayton, the county seat of Union county, and Folsom. The section traversed is mainly a stock country.
Next to the Santa Fe system, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway, with its allied railroads, has the greatest amount of mileage in the Territory. This is of recent construction, the El Paso & Northeastern Railway having been built about 1898 and the other parts of the system during the following years. The Dawson branch was completed in 1902. The coming of this system is doing great work for the development of the hitherto somewhat neglected eastern and east-central portions. New towns have sprung up along the line, and population in the sections traversed has been doubled.
These lines cross or enter Union, Quav, Guadalupe, Valencia. Lincoln. Socorro, Otero, San Miguel, Mora and Colfax counties, passing in a greater part through a wealthy stock country, but also tapping the Dawson and Capitan coal fields, rich mining districts and fertile agricultural sec- tions. After entering New Mexico from Texas the first town of impor- tance on the Rock Island & El Paso Railway is Tucumcari in Quay county, near the Union county line. Here the Dawson Railway starts, crossing the Santa Fe Railway at French, in Colfax county. The line from French to Dawson is nineteen miles long. while the line from French to Tucumcari is III miles. After Tucumcari the only other important town on the
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Chicago, Rock Island & El Paso part of the system is its terminus, Santa Rosa, where a high bridge crosses the Pecos river. At Santa Rosa con- nection is made with the El Paso & Rock Island Railway, which terminates at Carizozo, in Lincoln county, where connection is made with the El Paso & Northeastern Railway for El Paso. It passes through a stock and mining region. At the town of Torrance connection is made with the Santa Fé Central Railway. From Carizozo the Capitan branch of the El Paso & Northeastern runs to Capitan, a distance of twenty-one miles. This line taps the Capitan coal fields and the Nogal, Whiteoaks and other gold-mining districts. A short spur has been built to Nogal from Nogal Springs on the Capitan braneh. From Carizozo the El Paso & North- eastern runs to El Paso, crossing the New Mexico-Texas line south of Hereford. The mileage of this road in New Mexico is 126 miles. The principal town on this line is the prosperous and progressive city of Alamo- gordo, founded only a few years ago. At this point the wonderful Alamo- gordo & Sacramento Mountain Railroad, which is an engineering marvel, starts, touching the settlement of La Luz, the summer resort of Cloudcroft. at an elevation of 8,650 feet, and having its present terminus at Cox Canyon. This road was built to haul the timber from the Sacramento mountains to the large sawmills at Alamogordo. In its course of twenty- eight miles it climbs from an elevation of 4,320 feet to an elevation of 8,800 feet. At Jarilla Junction a three-mile spur taps the Jarilla mining camp.
The Rock Island & El Paso, the El Paso & Rock Island and the El Paso & Northeastern railways give the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacifie system the shortest line from Chicago and Kansas City to El Paso and Mexico, and by way of the Southern Pacific to Los Angeles.
The El Paso & Southwestern Railway is another new railroad in New Mexico, having been completed in 1903. Its western terminus is Douglas, Arizona, where connections are made with lines of the same system for Bishee and Nacosari, the former in Arizona and the latter in Mexico.
The length of the El Paso & Southwestern line is 25012 miles in New Mexico. The road is finely constructed, having all the appliances of modern railroads, and nowhere has the work or material been skimped or slighted. The steel weighs eighty pounds to the vard. The motive power and equipment are first class in every respect. The twenty miles from El Paso west has been the hardest and most expensive to construct, as it involved a grade crossing with the Southern Pacific, the building of an expensive bridge across the Rio Grande, and the overcoming of a heavy grade. The engineering of this portion of the road has been so skillfully done, and the grades and eurves so distributed. that an engine ean take an ordinarily loaded train over this line without the aid of a helper.
This magnificent piece of railroad building has been done by the firm of Phelps, Dodge & Co., in order to put its copper mines at Bisbee, Ari- zona, and Nacosari, Mexico, in connection with competing railroad lines at El Paso, Texas. The same company has also built a railroad from Douglas, which is in Arizona, near the Arizona-New Mexico line, south to Naeosari.
The Lordsburg & Hachita road, 381/2 miles long, runs from Lords- burg to Hachita, entirely in Grant county. It is a standard-gauge road. laid with eighty-pound steel. This road was built by the Arizona Copper
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HISTORY OF NEW MEXICO
Company, of Clifton, Arizona, as a continuation of its road from Clifton to Lordsburg, to connect with the El Paso & Southwestern, which it does at Hachita. This gives the Arizona Copper Company a competing freight outlet.
While the copper mines that demanded the building of these roads are in Arizona and Mexico, the greater part of the roads themselves are in New Mexico. These lines always command large stock shipments and a heavy tonnage in addition to ore and fuel. At Deming the El Paso & Southwestern connects with the Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific lines, and at Lordsburg the Lordsburg & Hachita line connects with the Southern Pacific and the Arizona & New Mexico railways.
The Arizona & New Mexico Railway, from Lordsburg to Clifton, Arizona. is part of the El Paso & Southwestern system and has thirty miles of railroad in New Mexico. This line was within the past two years changed from a narrow to a standard gauge.
One of the most important railway projects for New Mexico in recent years is that of the Santa Fe Central Railway Company, which connects the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe systems with the Rock Island system. The last spike on the main line was driven at Kennedy on August 13, 1903. and the road is now in operation between Santa Fé and Torrance. Its junction point with the Rock Island is at the town of Tor- rance, in Lincoln county, and its terminus is Santa Fé. At Kennedy the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railway is crossed. The Santa Fé Central main line is 116 miles long, running on easy grades, varying in elevation from 6,050 to 7,000 feet. It is developing one of the richest sections in New Mexico. New towns have been laid out, the principal being Mori- arty, Estancia and Willard.
The year 1900 witnessed the beginning of an era of remarkable rail- road development in central New Mexico. In that year Colonel Willard S. Hopewell, who for many years had been engaged in mining and in the stock business in Sierra county, removed to Albuquerque and brought to a successful conclusion his efforts to organize a company for the construc- tion of a line of railroad from Santa Fé to connect with the El Paso South- western road. The company, as originally organized, was known as the Santa Fé, Albuquerque & Pacific Railroad Company. It was incorporated December 7, 1900, under the laws of New Mexico as the Santa Fé Central Railway Company, its charter giving it a life of fifty years. The capital stock was $2,500,000. Colonel Hopewell was assisted in the work of pro- moting this enterprise by Joseph E. Saint, T. J. Mclaughlin and Thomas Helm. Upon the organization of the company William H. Andrews was elected president, Colonel Hopewell first vice-president and general man- ager, and W. C. Hagan secretary. In the spring of 1901 the construction of the road was begun at Kennedy, where the right of way crosses the tracks of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé system, work being carried on from that point north and south. The work was completed and the road opened for traffic in August, 1003. It extends from Santa Fé to Tor- rance. a station on the El Paso Southwestern Railroad-a distance of 117 miles.
Soon after the beginning of work upon this line a new venture was promoted-the Albuquerque Eastern Railway Company-for the purpose of connecting Albuquerque with the Santa Fé Central. Those associated
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with Colonel Hopewell in this enterprise and who, with him, became the incorporators were General Francis J. Torrance, T. Lee Clarke, Arthur Kennedy and W. H. Andrews. The company was chartered by the Terri- tory, July 22, 1901, for a period of fifty years, with a capital stock of $2,000,- 000. General Torrance was elected president and W. C. Hagan secretary. Soon after the organization Colonel Hopewell was chosen first vice-presi- dent and general manager. The work of construction was begun at a point near the southern border of Santa Fe county at a station named Moriarty, soon after the completion of the Santa Fé Central, and con- tinued westward toward Albuquerque. By the Ist of June, 1906, the grading had been completed over two-thirds of the route and most of the construction material was on hand.
Colonel Hopewell and his associates were also responsible for the organization of the Torrance, Roswell & Gulf Railroad Company, which was incorporated under territorial laws December 30, 1904, with a capital stock of $2,500,000. This road has been platted, the right of way im- proved, surveys made and a portion of the construction material pur- chased. The line will extend, when completed, from Torrance southeast- ward to Roswell, a distance of over one hundred miles, and from the latter point is planned to be continued ultimately into Texas.
On the 19th of December, 1904, the Durango, Albuquerque & Gulf Railway Company, capitalized at $6,000,000, was chartered by the Terri- tory for the purpose of constructing a line of railway from Durango, Colorado, southward to Albuquerque, where in due time the idea of its promoters is to make connections with the other roads, both those built and those projected, combining all into a system that will furnish better transportation facilities to the people of central and northern New Mexico and enable the New Mexico Fuel & Iron Company, a concern promoted and controlled by the individuals identified with these various railroad corporations, to handle the output of its great mines to better advantage. The latter company was incorporated at Santa Fe April 26, 1902, with a capital stock of $600,000. The officers are: General Francis J. Torrance, president ; W. H. Andrews, vice-president ; Colonel W. S. Hopewell, second vice-president and general manager, and W. C. Hagan, secretary.
The Pennsylvania Development Company, a New Jersey corporation. is the construction company of all the railroads mentioned, and was or- ganized for that purpose with Arthur Kennedy as president, Francis J. Torrance as vice-president, and T. Lee Clarke as treasurer. Some time after its organization Colonel Hopewell entered the company as its gen- eral manager.
Willard S. Hopewell was born in England in 1848, and in 1863 was brought to America, residing for one year in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In young manhood he engaged in mining in Central and South America and in Colorado, and subsequently, in 1881, organized the Las Animas Cattle Company, which invested a million dollars in land and cattle in Sierra county, New Mexico. This concern at one time owned as many as sixty thousand head of cattle. In 1882 Mr. Hopewell and others purchased the Fresno and Homestake mines in Sierra, and afterward developed the Caledonia, the Hibernian and other mines. In 1891 he organized the Albuquerque & Eastern Railroad Company, and the construction of this line will do much toward the development of the natural resources of the
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central portion of New Mexico and directly benefit the entire Territory. He has enlisted the support of a large amount of foreign capital in New Mexico enterprises and has proved himself one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of the Territory.
In 1905 Colonel Hopewell removed to Albuquerque, and while re- taining his extensive stock and mining interests, most of his endeavor since that time has been directed toward the organization and erection of a number of public utilities of great benefit to the Territory, in which con- nection he is associated with the Santa Fe Central Railway Company, organized in 1900, the Albuquerque Eastern Railroad Company, the Albu- querque, Durango & Gulf Railroad Company, the Torrance, Roswell & Gulf Railroad Company, the New Mexico Fuel & Iron Company, which owns and operates the Hagan coal mines, and the Pennsylvania Develop- ment Company, a New Jersey corporation, organized for the construction of these various railroad lines. These companies were all promoted by Colonel Hopewell, and he acts as their general manager. He is also one of the stockholders in the Commercial Club of Albuquerque, of which he serves as president.
Mr. Hopewell is in his political views and adherence a Democrat. He was a member of the first board of county commissioners in Sierra county, assisted in the organization of that county, and has been its representative in the territorial legislature.
A large number of railroad companies have been incorporated in New Mexico, the majority of which have transacted little business beyond the filing of their papers with the secretary of the Territory. Some of these companies were little better than blackmailing schemes. Others were promoted by men who may have had serious hopes of building roads some time or other.
Two railroad enterprises that proved nothing better than "bluffs" were the following :
January 16, 1882, were filed with the secretary of the Territory papers of incorporation of the New Mexican Railroad. The capital stock was $37,000,000, of which $1,455,800 was then reported to have been sub- scribed. The incorporators were Henry L. Waldo and W. W. Griffin, of Santa Fé; F. A. Manzanares, of Las Vegas; C. C. Wheeler, Albert A. Robinson, George R. Peck, Edward Wilder, A. S. Johnson, Topeka, Kan .; WV. B. Strong, I. T. Burr and Alden Speare, of Boston. The principal office was located at Santa Fé. Fifteen different routes were covered, embracing nearly all the settled portion of New Mexico.
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